Sword.
Yōsuke held his katana in an overly relaxed manner, relaxed enough that the bandits assumed he didn't know how to use a blade at all.
Yet the one-eyed bandit sensed something was off.
Yōsuke's posture looked loose to the point of carelessness, but when the one-eyed bandit simulated charging forward in his mind…
No matter how many times he ran the scenario, the result was always the same—
flawless, without an opening.
The one-eyed bandit had survived countless raids not only because he was cautious, but also because he possessed a unique gift: sensory ninjutsu.
He had originally been a shinobi of Takigakure.
But aside from sensory ninjutsu, no matter how hard he trained, he couldn't perform ninjutsu or genjutsu at all, and his taijutsu was only barely passable.
During the promotion exam from genin to chūnin, he failed due to insufficient ability. The humiliation devastated him.
So he set his sights on the Hero Water, the sacred treasure Takigakure had always guarded.
But luck was not on his side. When the guards discovered him, fearing harsh punishment, the one-eyed shinobi chose to defect.
Relying on his sensory ninjutsu, he managed to escape Takigakure.
To survive, he gathered a group of vagrant drifters as subordinates, robbing weak travelers to make ends meet.
He simply couldn't understand—
How could Yōsuke casually kick a man weighing nearly 200 jin (roughly 220 lbs) into the air so effortlessly?
And now, with a stance full of apparent openings yet completely impregnable, this was clearly not something someone without combat experience could pull off.
Even more confusing, his sensory ninjutsu detected that Yōsuke's chakra was extremely weak—almost nonexistent.
The one-eyed bandit muttered in confusion:
"Why is everything today so strange? Is this kid some kind of taijutsu specialist? But how can someone with skin that delicate be a taijutsu ninja?"
His cautious nature had always kept him alive.
He immediately decided to send his lackeys forward to test the waters while he observed from behind, ready to run at the first sign of danger.
But Yōsuke wasn't interested in wasting time on a handful of ragtag thugs.
Flames erupted around the blade of his katana.
"Sun Breathing・Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun (Enbu)!"
In an instant, the dozen bandit lackeys collapsed to the ground.
But Yōsuke had restrained his strength—he used the back of the blade, taking none of their lives.
The one-eyed bandit watching from behind turned pale with terror.
"Th-that… is that taijutsu-enhanced ninjutsu?! Impossible! Even among jōnin, only a tiny number can use it! And this guy barely has any chakra—how can he use something like that?!"
Nintaijutsu had three defining traits:
1. It required refined chakra.
2. It could be used without hand seals.
3. Its attacks were taijutsu-based.
Yōsuke didn't form any hand seals, yet he added fire-nature chakra to his blade. To the one-eyed bandit, that could only mean one thing—nintaijutsu.
He tried to quietly retreat, inching backward.
Yōsuke, of course, noticed.
He sighed helplessly.
"I already gave you all a chance to leave earlier, but you chose to be stubborn. I can't let you walk away now."
Yōsuke's figure flickered—
and in the next moment he was standing right before the one-eyed bandit.
Cold sweat poured from the bandit's forehead. He immediately dropped to his knees, begging:
"Please spare us! We only rob—we've never killed anyone! I swear, I'll never rob again!"
Yōsuke shook his head.
"No. You made mistakes, and you need to face the consequences."
The one-eyed bandit's face twisted with unwillingness.
"How… how can this be? Am I really going to die here…?"
Looking at his fallen subordinates, grief overwhelmed him.
"Forget it… if I die, I die. My men are all gone anyway. Living alone is meaningless. Boys, in the next life I'll still be your boss—only this time I'll keep you on the right path."
He closed his eye, waiting for death.
But what came instead was Yōsuke's gentle voice:
"Remember what you said. Don't be a bandit again."
A sharp pain struck the back of his neck, and he fell unconscious.
He didn't know how long had passed when noisy voices woke him.
Opening his eye, he saw his subordinates calling his name again and again.
Overcome with guilt, he said tearfully:
"Everyone… I'm sorry. You died because of me."
"Boss, what are you talking about? We're tied to these trees—we can't move at all!"
He blinked and looked carefully.
All of them were tied to the trees. Not one had died.
He recalled Yōsuke's last words before he fainted.
"I'm done. I'll never be a bandit again!" he vowed silently.
Even without Yōsuke's warning, today had shaken him to the core.
Not all strong people flaunted their power.
If he had run into someone with a worse temper, he might've died the moment he threatened them.
After struggling for a long time, the group finally freed themselves.
The one-eyed bandit knelt on the ground, kowtowing toward the distant horizon in gratitude.
His subordinates were confused.
"Boss, why are you doing that?"
"You idiot!" he snapped. "He spared our lives! We should be grateful! I've already decided—we're done with banditry!"
"What? Just like that?"
"If we don't rob anymore, what do we even do?"
"I don't know anything else—robbery is how I survive!"
A vein throbbed on the boss's forehead.
"If you don't know anything, then go learn! What do you think your brain is for?! Today we survived by luck. Next time there won't be such mercy! We still have savings—we can start a business! If we put in effort, we can live decent lives!"
Thinking back, they all broke into cold sweat.
Someone who looked like a rabbit turned out to be a tiger.
They quickly agreed.
"Boss knows best! We're done with this life! No more fear, no more running!"
All of them began to imagine a hopeful future.
Meanwhile, unaware of all this, Yōsuke had finally reached the border of the Land of Fire.
Just as he was about to step onto Fire Country territory and head toward Konoha, a bald monk blocked his path.
"I am Chiriku, abbot of the Fire Temple. You carry an unusual aura, traveler. What business do you have in the Land of Fire?"
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